Aluminum springboard



Patented Aug. 18, 1953 ALUMINUM sPRINGoARD Jack M. Ulanovsky, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Paddock Pool Equipment Co., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of California Application February 10, 1951, Serial No. 210,351

8 Claims.

This invention relates to diving boards, and more particularly to a diving board constructed principally of metal. While the word board usually connotes a wood material, it is'used herein in the broader sense of a structural article of any material of little thickness and of a length substantially exceeding its width. It may be one integral piece of material, as is often the case in wooden diving boards, or may be built up from several pieces of the same or different materials in a manner found suitable for constructing metal vdiving boards. A diving board is then an article of a lengthv substantially exceeding its width and of a relatively small thickness, mounted or to be mounted at the side of and projecting over a swimming and diving pool or other body of water suitable for swimming and diving, to be used as a springboard by a diver to give him an upward and outward movement from the board before falling downward into the water.

The proportions of a properly designed diving board are such as to provide, when conventionally mounted, the required deflection of the tip of the board under a given load which in turn generates a corresponding upward force sufficient for diving. Moreover, the board must be so designed that the combination of forces acting upon it in normal usage shall not anywhere produce stresses in excess of the endurance limit of the material. A board so designed has long life under conditions of continued stress reversals.

It is apparent that a metal board has certain .advantages over a wooden board:

1. A metal board may be standardized with uniform diving characteristics-an important factor in competitive diving.

2. By proper choice of material and proper design, a metal board may be of relatively light weight and, nevertheless, have a safety factor far in excess of that of a wooden board 0f similar weight. Longer usefulness of the board is thereby assured, and may be safely guaranteed by the manufacturer.

3. By the use of suitable metal alloys, the destructive action of fungi and the weather may be greatly reduced.

This inventor has as his object the production of a metal diving board of relatively light weight, required deflection, high flexure strength, durability, and high torsional stability. The importance of the latter quality will appear in the course of the description of the invention. In designing a metal diving board for greater strength and durability, it was found possible to produce one several times stronger than a, wooden 2 board, with a throw better than that of the existing boards, and with a torsional stability greater than that of any diving board now in existence.

In line with the terminology of structural elements, the diving board of the invention may be termed a beam. To attain the quality of light weight, as well as to realize more fully the above mentioned objects of the invention, a unique compound beam made of several single beam shapes is provided by the invention. The dimensional ratios of the single beam shapes and the dimensional ratios of the assembled compound beam will vary somewhat with the metal or metals used, the dimensional ratios in the case of each metal being determined in accordance with good engineering practice. There are present, however, certain characteristics of the beam shapes, and certain relative arrangements of the component beam shapes in the compound shape, which are common to diving beams constructed in accordance with the invention, irrespective of the metal used. The subject matter of the invention is so dened in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a diving boar ofthe invention mounted with its outer end projecting over the edge of a swimming pool;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the board and its mount shown in Figure l;

Figure 3 is an elevational view of the diving board; n

Figure 4 is a section along line 4 4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a section along line 5-5 of Figure 3; and

Figures 6 and '7 are sectional views similar respectively to Figures 4 and 5, but of a diving board embodying the invention in a modified form.-

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a diving board, generally indicated by the numeral I I is secured at I2, as by through bolts 20, to a cross pipe I3, supported by two pipe standards I4 xedly embedded at their lower ends in a concrete foundation slab I5, at a suitable distance from the rim I6 of a swimming pool I'I. At a fulcrum point I8 the board II rests loosely upon a horizontal cross pipe I9, which is supported at each end by a pipe structure in the form of an inverted U, comprising a longitudinally arranged horizontal pipe 2l, and two vertical pipes 22, which are xedly embedded at their lower ends in the concrete slab I5. Preferably the cross pipes I3 and I9 are at such relative levels that the board edges thereof said web edges defining the entire width of the upper surface of said diving board, longitudinal metal stiffening bars adjacent the inside surfaces of said downturned flanges, and a sheet metal bottom plate of upwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web positioned in spaced relation below said web of said top plate, and flange formations along t-he longitudinal edges thereof including flange portions abutting the inside surfaces of said stiffening bars, and means securely fastening said flanges on said top plate, said stilfening bars, and said flange portions of said bottom plate in rigid assembly with one another.

4. The subject matter of claim 3, wherein said webs of said top and bottom plates are substantially parallel longitudinally of the board, but wherein said flanges of said top plate, said stiffening bars, and said flange portions of the lower plate taper outwardly of the board for at least a substantial outer portion of the length of the board.

5. A flexible resilient metal diving board, comprising the combination of: a sheet metal top plate of downwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web and downturned flanges along the longitudinal edges thereof, longitudinal metal stiffening bars adjacent the inside surfaces of said downturned flanges, and a sheet metal bottom plate of upwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web positioned in spaced relation below said web of said top plate, and flange formations along the longitudinal edges thereof, including portions turned upwardly from the longitudinal edges of said web of said bottom plate, outward portions extending from said upwardly turned portions and abutting the under surface of the web of said top plate, and downwardly turned portions extending from the outwardly turned portions, said downwardly turned portions abutting the inside surfaces of said stiffening bars, and means securely fastening said flanges on said top plate, said stiffening bars, and said downwardly turned portions of said flange formations of the bottom plate, all in rigid assembly with one another.

6. A flexible resilient metal diving board, comprising the combination of a sheet metal top plate of downwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web and downturned flanges along the longitudinal edegs thereof, longitudinal metal stilening bars adjacent the inside surfaces of said downturned flanges, and a sheet metal bottom plate of upwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web of arched crosssection positioned in spaced relation below said web of said top plate, and flange formations along the longitudinal edges thereof, including portions turned upwardly from the longitudinal edges of said web of said bottom plate, outward portions extending from said upwardly turned portions and abutting the under surface of the web of said top plate, and downwardly turned portions extending from the outwardly turned portions, said downwardly turned portions abutting the inside surfaces of said stiifening bars, and means securely fastening said flanges on said top plate, said stiffening bars, and said downwardly turned portions of said flange formations of the bottom plate, all in rigid assembly with one another.

7. The subject matter of claim 6, wherein said flanges of said top plate, said stifening bars, and only the said downwardly turned flange portions of said bottom plate, are tapered outwardly of the board for at least a substantial outer portion of the length of the board.

8. A flexible resilient metal diving board, comprising the combination of: a sheet metal top plate of downwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web and downturned flanges along the longitudinal edges thereof said web edges defining the entire width of the upper surface of said diving board, longitudinal metal stiifening bars adjacent the inside surfaces of said downturned flanges, and a sheet metal bottom plate of upwardly facing channel cross-section, including a longitudinally extending web positioned in spaced relation below said web of said top plate, and upwardly turned flanges along the longitudinal edges of said bottom plate abutting the inside surfaces of said stiffening bars, and means securely fastening said flanges on said top plate, said stiffening bars, and said flanges on said bottom plate in rigid assembly with one another.

JACK M. ULANOVSKY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,921,664 Finigan Aug. 8, 1933 2,070,494 Stevenson Feb. 9, 1937 2,136,122 Almdale Nov. 8, 1938 2,461,086 Schumacher Feb. 8, 1949 2,546,151 Buck Mar. 27, 1951 

